Defense remains paramount to Rockets’ success

Through a nine-minute stretch in which the Rockets took over Thursday night’s game, the offense clicked more than it had in any quarter this preseason. Rockets players, however, talked about their defense.

The Rockets put up 37 third-quarter points, making 62.5 percent of their shots, including 55.6 percent of their 3-pointers. But throughout the three quarters before the benches were cleared, they had locked down the lane to leave San Antonio with a 109-92 win they believed was keyed by defense at least as much as that third-quarter offensive burst.

“We did a great job of playing defense and turning our defensive stops into offense,” forward Chandler Parsons said. “It had to be fun to watch. It was fun to play when we get stops, get out in transition and play like that.

“We’ve got guys that can score the basketball. Whatever lineup we’re in, we just need to be worried about the other end. When we have bad shooting nights, we have to win games by getting stops. We’ve got to make sure when we do go on those runs that we stay locked in defensively.”

Through three quarters, the Spurs scored just 18 points in the paint, with the Rockets’ inside combination of Omer Asik and Dwight Howard controlling the lane and the boards to start each half. Tony Parker and Marco Belinelli were a combined 5-of-5 in the third quarter but couldn’t get enough looks to keep pace.

“They were jump shots,” coach Kevin McHale said. “If you are going to take away anything, you have to take away the paint from those guys, make them beat you with jump shots. Overall, our defense was really solid.”